Tag: odd job

Odd Job

Sometimes I help my friend with her vacation rentals, specifically in the yards and gardens. (What is the difference? “Garden” sounds nicer, but when I do the yardwork, I think of it as “yardening”.)

Recently we laid some fake grass (“artificial turf” is the real name) for a place to put up a children’s play set. We are figuring out how to conceal the edges, putting down weed barrier and planting all sorts of things around the “grass”.

Next, we will add stepping stones to lead from the front of the house to the side area with the playset (remember when there were monkey-bars, swings, slides, and merry-go-rounds, all separate pieces of equipment, with asphalt beneath? How did we survive such barbarism??)

Because we want it to be enticing to kids, we want stepping stones that are inviting. After kicking around all sorts of ideas, we chose painted cement circles. This was a frugal decision, because we are careful with the home owner’s money.

Trail Guy set up a temporary table for painting the stepping stones in the sunshine.

I have many gallons of paint for a primer coat.

The paint dried fast, so I was able to put two coats on within an hour and a half.

My friend and I bought small cans of blue, red, and yellow so I can mix many colors. We learned that with small cans, the strongest brightest colors aren’t possible. All the tint needed to make the colors bright would cause a little can to overflow. So, we got the brightest primary colors that the hardware store could mix for us.

As a professed color junkie, I just dove into the colors. Our ideas were many, but thinking about the time involved, we settled on one solid step per color, and the rest could be decorated a little more elaborately.

I began with the first design, an obvious idea for February 14, the day I painted.

Then I just kept going. I painted the 6 very solidly, and messed around with blending colors on top of the other 6. It wasn’t particularly successful, but it was a fun way to experiment and get a base coat on the white primer.

This is really fun. When we figure out how to decorate the non-solids, I hope I remember to photograph them and blog about it. And if they look good leading through the “garden” to the “grass”, I might show you that too.

It might be a bit of an odd job, but I continue to. . .

make art people can understand of places and things they love for prices that won’t scare them.

P.S. Is this art??

odd job

Sanctioned Graffiti

A friend in Three Rivers has a rock in her front yard (well duh, most people in Three Rivers have rocks in their front yards) and for a few years, she has wanted some words painted on the rock. She mentioned it to me and I said, “I can do that!”

After she explained her idea, I spent time messing around with typestyles, looking for something I could imitate. After experimenting awhile, I realized the only choice was Papyrus, the type that graphic designers love to hate. I love it. What do you expect from an unsophisticated, marginally educated, DBO* from Tulare County?? It was the best choice because it has ragged looking edges, and I was painting on a ragged rough surface.

I forgot to bring my chalk to mark the borders, but was able to scratch in the lines with a rock, then put a first layer down to see if I could control the paint and a brush.

Yeppers. I can do this. A new brush helped.

Layer layer layer. Watch out for drips.

Remember to step back and see if it is readable.

My friend wanted it subtle, and liked the light color. I asked if I could add shadows, she was good with that, and we both liked the results.

Voila! Sanctioned graffiti (or sanctified graffiti?) My friend said, “Tell your people that I am thrilled, filled with happiness and joy over this!” I said, “We are ending this year proclaiming the truth.” She said, “Amen”, and we were both quite satisfied.

*Ditch-bank-Okie is supposed to be a pejorative term, but I view it as a compliment.

custom art odd job

Odd Sort of Job

My two favorite ways to spend time with friends are either taking a walk or working on a project. While in Mineral King, my friend had a project and allowed me to help. If it had been a job, I would have called it an “odd job” to be sure.

We used every tool at our disposal. She brought some up the hill, and we both had other supplies to dig into.

What in the world??

We spent about 3-4 hours working on a project that I would have NEVER chosen to do, but was happy to help. She had the ideas and did the prep; I had the skills. We worked together like a well-oiled machine, and these were our results.

I hope the attendees at the bridal shower are impressed. These are Pinterest and Instagram worthy, eh?

P.S. I almost NEVER go to bridal showers, never go to baby showers, and the idea of decorations and tabletop centerpieces does not enter my mind under 99% of my circumstances. Ever ever ever. But working with a friend is always rewarding, and no attendance at a shower was required.

odd job

That Old Shutter

There were lots of cute suggestions for what to do with that old shutter.

Being the Central California Artist, I decided to simply use it for a painting.

Because it obviously came from an old cabin, I decided to paint a cabin on it.

Because I try to be businesslike, I decided to paint the most popular cabin* from the most popular place** on it.

That is one rough surface. Who thought this was a good idea, anyway?? Lots of layering ahead to get this up to snuff, whatever that weird little saying means.

*The most popular cabin I paint is the Honeymoon Cabin.

**The most popular place I write about is Mineral King.

P.S. The blue is tape, and the white is primer where it overlaps the tape.

cabin painting Honeymoon Cabin mineral king painting odd job

Odd Job, Day 5

Back to the coat of arms painting, an odd job of an oil painting commission.

I mixed and applied the correct green, along with a strong purple for the bottom ribbon. (It will need some detailing).

Then I mixed and applied a more golden yellow and a stronger blue.

The edges are a little weak, but the entire piece will get black outlines. This is a simple painting, but there is very little forgiveness with strong colors each abutting other strong clean colors. It requires a lot of drying time in between layers.

commission commission oil painting odd job oil painting

Another Odd Job, Day 3

First, this isn’t my third day of painting – it is the third day of posting on this topic. I don’t know how many days or how many hours, but it is entirely possible that I underbid the job. It became so fun that I just kept layering, tightening, detailing, and correcting.

Trail Guy helped me flip the sign right side up. Then I realized that the left leg of the N was too short. We ditched the oval that was part of the original design, but I neglected to reshape the words. Always learning as I go. . .

Pippin was thrilled to have company in the morning.

A camelia, perhaps? And the longer left leg of the N needs more layers.

Well, not exactly finished. The back needs painting, but that is boring, so the next time you see this, I hope it is hanging above the new nursery at the Three Rivers Mercantile.

commissioned artwork odd job

Another Odd Job, Day 2

Oh-oh, the yellow paint is picking up the blue chalk. Guess this will take many coats.

The green will also take at least 2 coats.

It was too hard to paint the bottom of the sign, so I flipped it over. But it got stuck, so I continued painting while outside. That was actually easier. (Never mind how I will get it unstuck.)

I finished the first coat of green on the bottom, leaving the “growies” for later, because I don’t know what colors I’ll use there. And I am still picking up blue chalk with the yellow paint.

I learn by doing. White paint mostly hides the yellow+blue chalk problem. Now it needs yet another coat of yellow, maybe even two.

To be continued. . .

P.S. I have guest posted again on the Mineral King Preservation Society blog.

commissioned art odd job

New Odd Job

“Odd” means “unusual”, as in I’ve never done this before.

I’ll give you a break from Mineral King wildflower oil paintings and show you my new project. This is a commission, which is a fancy word for custom art work.

A customer/friend sent me this and asked if I could do an oil painting of her family’s coat of arms.

I said something like, “Sure, but first we’ll have to decide on some color.” She then sent me this.

So I looked up meanings to the parts of Coats of Arms. We learned even the colors have meanings.

Next she sent me this.

Time for some Photoshopping (I use Photoshop Elements, which is really just Photoshop Junior).

Come back tomorrow to see how this developed.

commissioned oil painting odd job

Odd Job

I was asked to paint something highly unusual in an oval canvas. It had some built-in difficulties: the subject matter took some research, it was particularly challenging to get onto the canvas, and an oval is a little difficult to secure on an easel.

All the customer had to show me was these 2 blurry little labels.

How are you supposed to paint from those?

Glad you asked – I knew people who could help. Those good folks sent me this:

How is that helpful?

It is less blurry and Photoshop Elements will help me get it ready to use.

How is this going to turn into an oil painting?

Great question – thanks for asking. I converted it to black and white, enlarged it to fit the canvas, borrowed some graphite paper, and traced it onto the oval canvas.